Actor Salman Khan’s defence in a decade-old hit-and-run case got a significant boost on Monday after his driver testified in court that it was he, and not the Bollywood star, who was behind the wheel of an SUV that ran over people in 2002.

The 49-year-old Bollywood star is accused of running his SUV on the pavement in Mumbai’s suburb of Bandra on September 28, 2002, killing one person and injuring four others.

A multi-lingual film that chronicles the flaws in India’s notoriously slow judicial system and its effect on ordinary citizens won the top prize at the 62nd National Film Awards.

“Court” follows the tribulations of an ageing folk singer who is charged with abetting the murder of a sewage worker who has heard one of his songs. The film, which has already won accolades at international film festivals in places like Venice and Singapore, was praised by the jury for its “powerful and stark depiction of the mundaneness of judicial procedure”.

Veteran actor Shashi Kapoor will receive the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for 2014, the government announced on Monday, becoming the third in his family to receive the country’s highest honour in Indian cinema.

Kapoor, 77, is known for his myriad roles in both mainstream and experimental cinema in India and in several international projects, most notably for his collaboration with Ismail Merchant and James Ivory, who directed him in films like “The Householder” and “Heat and Dust”.

(Any opinions expressed here are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters)

The protagonist in Harshavardhan Kulkarni’s “Hunterrr” (the tacky title is a product of Bollywood’s propensity to fiddle with spellings) is instantly recognizable. Mandar Ponkshe is someone we’ve all met, or been, at some point in life. He’s the guy who ogles at every passing woman, the man who brushes against a woman’s posterior in a crowded market, or stares at a nurse who is treating his sick friend.

Kulkarni bravely attempts to humanize this character in a country that has incredibly repressed attitudes towards sex, where adolescent boys are lectured about watching erotica and even punished for it, and attitudes like those of the protagonist towards women are, to put it diplomatically, not uncommon.

MUMBAI (Reuters) – Comedian Jerry Seinfeld’s debut in India this weekend has been canceled after Mumbai city police expressed concern over inadequate parking space for people attending the two nearly sold-out shows, the event’s promoters said on Friday.

Seinfeld, best known for his eponymous hit TV series in the 1990s, was to perform his stand-up routines on March 14 and 15 at a Mumbai stadium. Ticket prices ranged from 7,500 rupees ($120) to 12,500 rupees ($200) and the money is to be refunded.

(Any opinions expressed here are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters)

Navdeep Singh’s “NH10” is a brutal, often uncomfortable film that makes no attempt to sugarcoat its reality, or to ease its audience into the narrative. As in his earlier film, “Manorama Six Feet Under”, Singh examines the realities of living in an India that is far away from the lives that wealthy, urban Indians lead. Between the city and anarchy lies little more than a tollbooth.

Singh’s film, modeled on the 2008 film “Eden Lake” with Michael Fassbender, seems made for these urban audiences, who could be forgiven for rethinking their plans to drive down scenic country highways to exotic holiday destinations. The film devotes its nearly two-hour running time to making sure that they do.

Jerry Seinfeld will not perform in Mumbai. The organizer behind the stand-up comedian and television sitcom star’s live shows in Mumbai, scheduled for March 14 and 15, cancelled the events after the Mumbai police department expressed concern over the amount of parking spaces that organizers scheduled for the show, according to the group’s chief executive.

Seinfeld, whose hit U.S. show of the same name ran from 1989 to 1998, was scheduled to arrive in Mumbai on Friday night. On Wednesday, the Mumbai Mirror reported that the organizers were running into trouble because the police said that the event could cause traffic snarls and parking hassles because of the expected large turnout for his show.

MUMBAI (Reuters) – A prominent member of the government censors took to social media on Thursday to rail against its chairman, exposing rifts within a censorship panel that has thwarted the theatrical release of films such as Hollywood hit “Fifty Shades of Grey”.

Ashoke Pandit, a Bollywood film-maker, accused censor chief Pahlaj Nihalani of treating the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) like his personal fiefdom.

MUMBAI, March 12 (Reuters) – A prominent member of India’s
government censors took to social media on Thursday to rail
against its chairman, exposing rifts within a censorship panel
that has thwarted the theatrical release of films such as
Hollywood hit “Fifty Shades of Grey”.

Anushka Sharma might have spent less than a decade as a Bollywood high roller, but she’s become an adept juggler. Her relationship with cricketer Virat Kohli and her cosmetic surgery woes have kept her on the gossip pages. Meanwhile, she has been busy producing her first film.

“NH10,” which chronicles what happens to a city couple on a road trip gone wrong, is a brutal depiction of what Sharma says happens when “two Indias” – the heartland, and the city – meet.

About Shilpa

"Shilpa covers Bollywood and entertainment for Reuters India since 2008. She has previously worked with DNA and the Press Trust of India, covering train blasts in Mumbai, a constitutional crisis in Goa and protests in New Delhi. On Twitter, she's @shilpajay."